Sudden Death of Green Cheek Conure

[denises]

Hello everyone. On Monday my son came home to find his beloved Ali deceased at the bottom of her cage. She would have been 4 in April 2022. She has shown no signs of illness and was perfectly fine when he left that morning. When he found her, her feet were clinging to the sides of the cage, as her body laid on the cage floor. There were no chemicals, cleaners, candles, any thiing like that within her proximity at any time. It was so sudden and traumatic for my son, that we did not even think about taking her to the vet for answers. We did bring her for cremation, but before leaving he showed her to me, she had an odd bump in her lower neck area. It was not there when my son left in the morning. Any idea what could have caused this? From the position of her neck, he is thinking she may have slipped from her top perch and hit something on the way down, breaking her neck. Sounds reasonable, but that wouldn't cause this bump. (Although, it may have no bearing on her sudden death.) To me, it looks like a bite, but we are in NY and there really aren't many insects this time of year. Has anyone seen anything like this? or had something like this happen? My son is devasted not knowing what happened to her. I have attached a close up pic of the bump on her, which I have also emailed to her vet. Thank you in advance for any input on this.

(I know any responses will be pure speculation)

 

[BirdyBee]

Hello everyone. On Monday my son came home to find his beloved Ali deceased at the bottom of her cage. She would have been 4 in April 2022. She has shown no signs of illness and was perfectly fine when he left that morning. When he found her, her feet were clinging to the sides of the cage, as her body laid on the cage floor. There were no chemicals, cleaners, candles, any thiing like that within her proximity at any time. It was so sudden and traumatic for my son, that we did not even think about taking her to the vet for answers. We did bring her for cremation, but before leaving he showed her to me, she had an odd bump in her lower neck area. It was not there when my son left in the morning. Any idea what could have caused this? From the position of her neck, he is thinking she may have slipped from her top perch and hit something on the way down, breaking her neck. Sounds reasonable, but that wouldn't cause this bump. (Although, it may have no bearing on her sudden death.) To me, it looks like a bite, but we are in NY and there really aren't many insects this time of year. Has anyone seen anything like this? or had something like this happen? My son is devasted not knowing what happened to her. I have attached a close up pic of the bump on her, which I have also emailed to her vet. Thank you in advance for any input on this.

(I know any responses will be pure speculation)

I wonder if it couldn't have been a tumor? Or another type of growth? What was her diet? what exactly did you feed her in her diet? Poor diet can cause sudden death. A lot of people unknowingly feed their birds bad diet.

You also didn't happen to feed her avocado, caffeine, chocolate, or any diary products, right?

I'm sorry for you and your son's loss. May she rest in peace

 

[denises]

I wonder if it couldn't have been a tumor? Or another type of growth? What was her diet? what exactly did you feed her in her diet? Poor diet can cause sudden death. A lot of people unknowingly feed their birds bad diet.

You also didn't happen to feed her avocado, caffeine, chocolate, or any diary products, right?

I'm sorry for you and your son's loss. May she rest in peace

I do not know what her exact diet consisted of, as she lived with my son. But I do know that she was not exposed to any of the "off limit" foods. My son was very conscious of making sure she wasn't exposed to anything unsafe. It is that lump/bump that is so mysterious to me, but, it was not there before death. I have reached out to her vet, as well - so, I am hoping the vet may be able to shed some light. Our hearts are so broken right now.

 

[BirdyBee]

I do not know what her exact diet consisted of, as she lived with my son. But I do know that she was not exposed to any of the "off limit" foods. My son was very conscious of making sure she wasn't exposed to anything unsafe. It is that lump/bump that is so mysterious to me, but, it was not there before death. I have reached out to her vet, as well - so, I am hoping the vet may be able to shed some light. Our hearts are so broken right now.

Again, sorry for your loss.

 

[Flboy]

I am so very sorry!

 

[wrench13]

Please extend my sympathy to your son. I ( and many others on here) have experienced a loved parrot just ..... going. They are so fragile, we forget that sometimes. They are subject to a lot of the same medical issues that we are and heart attacks, strokes are not uncommon, not for a specific reason but some do pass away due to those. No warning. My loved Max, a yellow wing parrot passed like that.

 

[Laurasea]

It's so hard to loose them my condolences .

What was the exact location of the bump? It could be a feather cyst, or something else. Or an abscess

Unfortunately birds evolved to hide any sign of illness. This is a hardwired behavior, so they won't be turned on by the flock and targeted by predators. They will do everything to hide issues, fake eat, play, keep up normal behavior appearance. So often the only sign that something was wrong is sudden death. When really they were sick much longer.

I've experienced this Unfortunately. I fed a treat to my normal active bird. When I came back in couple of hours she had passed. Was a sinus infection.

The position you found in is how they do when weak and trying to support themselves.

So sudden death, 90% of the time is not, they had a hidden health issue. That's why when birds show any symptoms of classic "sick bird " it has to be treated as an emergency and they can be days or hours away from death. Prompt veterinarian care to save them.

Often one of our only tools to detect hidden issues is weekly weight checks. Sick birds almost always start dropping weight, and when caught early by weight drop. Then getting them in to veterinarian and treatment they recover quickly.

Because birds come in different sizes and for little birds like green cheeks s few grams is big deal . Veterinarian use % body mass lost.
The lit says over 3% lost look for a reason, get checked.
5-10% you have a sick bird get to the veterinarian within next couple of days.
10% or more very sick try and get in right away, start support feeding.

To calculate take grams lost ÷ by normal healthy weight x 100 = % lost
Example burds weight 75 grams lost 5 now 70 grams

5÷75=0.066x100 = 6.6% loss = sick burd get checked out

 

[denises]

It's so hard to loose them my condolences .

What was the exact location of the bump? It could be a feather cyst, or something else. Or an abscess

Unfortunately birds evolved to hide any sign of illness. This is a hardwired behavior, so they won't be turned on by the flock and targeted by predators. They will do everything to hide issues, fake eat, play, keep up normal behavior appearance. So often the only sign that something was wrong is sudden death. When really they were sick much longer.

I've experienced this Unfortunately. I fed a treat to my normal active bird. When I came back in couple of hours she had passed. Was a sinus infection.

The position you found in is how they do when weak and trying to support themselves.

So sudden death, 90% of the time is not, they had a hidden health issue. That's why when birds show any symptoms of classic "sick bird " it has to be treated as an emergency and they can be days or hours away from death. Prompt veterinarian care to save them.

Often one of our only tools to detect hidden issues is weekly weight checks. Sick birds almost always start dropping weight, and when caught early by weight drop. Then getting them in to veterinarian and treatment they recover quickly.

Because birds come in different sizes and for little birds like green cheeks s few grams is big deal . Veterinarian use % body mass lost.
The lit says over 3% lost look for a reason, get checked.
5-10% you have a sick bird get to the veterinarian within next couple of days.
10% or more very sick try and get in right away, start support feeding.

To calculate take grams lost ÷ by normal healthy weight x 100 = % lost
Example burds weight 75 grams lost 5 now 70 grams

5÷75=0.066x100 = 6.6% loss = sick burd get checked out

The bump is at her lower neck right above her chest. Thank you so much for all you said. Perhaps she did have an underlying issue we just did not know about. I pray she did not suffer long.

 

[Laurasea]

Denises,
If only they would let us know! Its hard to grasp that this is written into their DNA.


that can be the crop area hard to tell/know

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Awww poor Ali! she was sooo young! My deepest and most sincere condolences to you and your son on this sad occasion. As Laura stated,they hide their illness so well that by the time we realize something is wrong it is usually too late.

I lost Smokey, my African Grey of 28 years a few years ago. One night before bed she was playing,eating,talking and acting fine. When I uncovered her house in the morning her head was hung low and she was weaving back and forth on her perch. I rushed her to her avian doctor. Smokey couldn't even pull her arms (wings) to her body or grasp the doc's fingers with her foot or even hold her head up. She passed away on the exam table...Xrays showed an enlarged heart and liver. This was seven years ago and a day doesn't pass where I don't think of her.
Again...my heart goes out to you and your son.

Jim

 

[denises]

Awww poor Ali! she was sooo young! My deepest and most sincere condolences to you and your son on this sad occasion. As Laura stated,they hide their illness so well that by the time we realize something is wrong it is usually too late.

I lost Smokey, my African Grey of 28 years a few years ago. One night before bed she was playing,eating,talking and acting fine. When I uncovered her house in the morning her head was hung low and she was weaving back and forth on her perch. I rushed her to her avian doctor. Smokey couldn't even pull her arms (wings) to her body or grasp the doc's fingers with her foot or even hold her head up. She passed away on the exam table...Xrays showed an enlarged heart and liver. This was seven years ago and a day doesn't pass where I don't think of her.
Again...my heart goes out to you and your son.

Jim

Thank you for your condolences. So sorry to hear about your Smokey.

 

[HeatherG]

I just saw this. I think you may be seeing her crop. I’m sorry for your loss.